Slipping Through My Fingers
by Accio Lumos
Summary: The day that your daughter gets married should be a happy one. But for Will Darcy, he can't help but feel that he's losing his eldest daughter. MDAU, follows on from my story Autumn Changes. THIS STORY IS COPYRIGHTED!


**A/N:** So thank you to everyone who gives this a read. This is a one shot about the characters in my story Autumn Changes so for new readers, there are references in here that may confuse you.

 **Disclaimer: Not Jane Austen, never will be. Just use her characters for my own inspiration. The only things that belong to me are the story plot and any original characters not mentioned in P &P.**

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 _Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning_

 _Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile_

 _I watch her go with a surge of that well known sadness_

 _And I have to sit down for a while_

 _The feeling that I'm losing her forever_

 _And without really entering her world_

 _I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter_

 _That funny little girl._

 _Slipping through my fingers all the time_

 _I try to capture every minute_

 _The feeling in it_

 _Slipping through my fingers all the time_

 _Do I really see what's in her mind?_

 _Each time I think I'm close to knowing_

 _She keeps on growing_

 _Slipping through my fingers all the time_

 _Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture_

 _And save it from the funny tricks of time_

 _Slipping through my fingers all the time_

 _-Abba, slipping through my fingers._

 **Slipping Through My Fingers**

Dressed in a black tuxedo, William Darcy tightened the red tie around his neck and studied his reflection in the mirror that he stood in front of. It was today that, for the first time in his forty-five years of life, he truly felt that he was getting old. His once dark brown, curly hair was now a lighter shade of brown with small streaks of grey and though he had few wrinkles, he definitely looked older. He had always considered that forty-five was still quite young but today he didn't feel young.

His thoughts drifted back to a year ago when Rose had returned to Pemberley after travelling around Asia for eight months. But when she had returned home, she hadn't been alone. On her return, she had brought with her a 'friend'. A friend called Joe Younge who she had met through one of her travelling friends and it was during a family dinner that the two had revealed their engagement, despite having only known each other for eight months.

 _"You can't get married to this man Rose, you've only just met him."_

 _Rose snorted, "Please, don't be a hypocrite dad. You were just twenty-one when you knocked Mum up and you had only known her for no more than four months. Twenty-two when mum gave birth to me. So spare me the 'you're too young' and 'you haven't known him long' talks." His daughter had snapped back at him._

He couldn't say that he had been thrilled when his little girl, now twenty-three, had returned home after months in another country and was getting married to a man they knew nothing about. He had instantly felt protective, wanting to know everything there was to know about the man who was going to marry his daughter. It was the thought that his little girl was growing up too quickly, he felt that he hadn't had his time with her yet and he knew that he wasn't ready to give up his daughter.

William smiled in memory when he had been caught on the computer in the study by his wife. Elizabeth, who had snuck up on him three nights after the announcement of Rose and Joe's engagement, had found him looking their future son-in-law up on the internet.

 _"William, you can't go looking into this young man's background." Elizabeth scolded._

 _"We know nothing about him Lizzy, I need to know if he's good enough for our daughter." William snapped._

 _"And you once said you wouldn't do what your father did. You can't deem this man not good enough for Rose when we know nothing about him. Your father did that with me, he barely had more than a few conversations asking about my home life before he threw me out and into that taxi with a cheque." Elizabeth pointed out._

 _Will sighed, knowing that his wife was right. His own father had done that to them all those years ago and despite the fact they had overcome all the obstacles, they managed to put the past behind them and become a family._

 _"What do I do?" he asked his wife._

 _Elizabeth smiled, "You'll take him fishing, be nice to him and get to know him in the appropriate way. You won't scare him off, you'll make him feel welcome and good enough for our family." She said quietly._

 _"I don't like him, he's made our little girl turn into some crazy, lovesick puppy!" William grumbled._

 _Elizabeth chuckled, "Love, I seem to recall that I had that same effect on you."_

Of course, his wife had been right; she was always right, it was as if Lizzy was a natural when it came to being right about things. Not wanting to make the same mistake that his father had done in his relationship with Elizabeth, he made the effort to spend some time with Joe. He questioned Joe about his life, the man had been travelling after studying business and finance management for his master's degree and wanted to enjoy a trip around Asia before settling down into a career in finance. He learned that Joe liked to fish, he liked football and supported Manchester United as his favourite team and he was told that he was first introduced to Rose during an embarrassing scenario in Asia where their groups had met up and Joe's friends were diving into a lake off a boat when Joe's friends decided to 'moony' the group of girls that Rose was travelling with.

 _"Did you join in with the 'moony' part?" William asked._

 _Joe shook his head, "No, my friend Darryl, he's a bit of a prat, decided to pull my shorts down but luckily I was still wearing underwear; only they were a bright pair of yellow boxers. For the first few weeks Rose kept calling me 'Mustard' and kept teasing me about my choice of clothing."_

After hearing more to the tale of how his daughter had met this man he was beginning to like, he came to the conclusion that Joe and Rose truly loved each other and just like his situation with Elizabeth, they didn't care about the short amount of time that they had known each other because it had felt like a lifetime and knew that they always wanted to be together. So he had given his blessing, glad that his wife had encouraged him to get to know Joe properly, rather than researching and making poor judgements just like his father had done.

But today, it was really happening. Rose was marrying Joe in just twenty minutes and his little girl would be someone's wife. He felt silly for feeling like he was losing her, when in reality he was gaining a son-in-law. But to him, he still saw Rose as that little girl who got up at silly hours of the morning and still did and the fact that she was now getting married made him feel old, she had really grown up, as if it had happened during the blink of an eye. He suddenly missed those long walks, trips to the zoo or the farm, the middle of the night wake-up calls and what he missed most of all, was the times when she used to be cheeky by calling him the given nickname of 'Fizz' during those first few weeks of bonding together. Sighing heavily, he left the room and walked down the hall and knocked on the door of the room where the bridal party was getting ready.

The door opened and he met the warm smile from Elizabeth, who hadn't changed much in the last twenty years. The bridesmaids were dressed in dark red dresses, their hairs tied into elegant up dos as he smiled at his youngest daughter Alice, aged only seventeen and had the Darcy curls but her mother's looks, including those green eyes.

"You look beautiful Ally." William complimented, kissing his little girl's forehead.

"Thanks dad, wait until you see Rosie, she's more beautiful." Ally replied with a smile.

"Actually, can I have a minute with my daughter?" William asked.

Elizabeth nodded, kissing him briefly before ushering out the bridesmaids and closing the door, leaving William alone in the room whilst his eldest daughter finished up in the other room.

"Daddy, will I do?" came a voice.

William turned around, out of the adjoining room stood his daughter. Only she wasn't the little girl who used to run in the mud, covering herself head to toe in the dirt. She wasn't the little girl anymore who had insisted on calling him 'Fizz' for those first few months after they had met for the first time. His little Rosie was now a woman, wearing a perfectly fitted white dress, with a veil draped over the back of her head. Her brown curls fell over her shoulders and down her back, with some pinned and woven into the top of her head to hold in the silver tiara that she wore.

"You're so beautiful, my little Rose." William whispered, a tear springing to his eye.

He didn't know how he was going to let her go, even when she had finished university and insisted on travelling, she still had a bedroom at Pemberley, she still had her stuffed animals lined up on a shelf, her favourite books were still littered on the pine bookcase in the corner of her bedroom. She still had a collection of her favourite Disney princess DVD's in her bedroom cupboard. But now it was different. Rose was starting a new chapter in her life, living in a house that she and Joe owned, one day having a baby of her own.

There were the feelings that he hadn't bonded with her since her birth. He hadn't known she even existed until that fateful engagement party of Charles and Jane. But once he had known, he had bonded with her instantly, grew to love her as a father should love his child. William couldn't deny that he still felt the loss of not being able to cradle her as a newborn, not do his share of night feeds, changing dirty nappies, watching her sit, crawl, walk for the first time. Not hearing her first word. How was he supposed to give her away now?

"Dad, what's wrong?" Rose asked.

William sniffed and smiled, "I'm just being silly. I'm fine." He insisted.

Rose frowned and walked over to him, squeezing his hand.

"Tell me, I thought you were okay with me marrying Joe?" Rose questioned.

"I am. He's a nice boy, I know he'll look after you and treat you right. It's not that." William replied.

"Then, what is it?"

William tucked a loose curl behind her ear, looking into those curious brown eyes that had always been so curious.

"I feel like you're slipping through my fingers. I'm just scared that now you're getting married and being all grown up, you won't have any need for me anymore. I just feel like I'm losing my little girl, I've only had you for twenty-years so I don't think I'm ready to give you up just yet. Like I said, I'm just being silly." William said quietly.

Rose smiled at him reassuringly.

"We might have missed out on those first three years, but you're my dad. I'll always need you no matter what." She replied.

"I'm just being silly." William stated.

Rose nodded in agreement.

"I'll always be your little girl and you'll always be my dad. We can't change the fact that we missed out on three years but we have the rest of our lives. You still have plenty of firsts with me, first daughter you get to walk down the aisle, first grandchild unless Tom or Ally beat me to the baby part." Rose laughed.

William smiled in amusement.

"Tom is very anti anything that has to do with him settling down at the moment and Ally still has another year at sixth form before she's off for university, as for Henry, I think I've got a little while before I have to worry about a grandchild from him."

"I should hope so, he's only thirteen."

"Anyway, Rosie, I just had a funny moment worrying over something stupid. You're a beautiful bride and Joe is a very lucky man." William said softly.

"Thanks dad, I love you."

"I love you too darling."

Elizabeth popped her head back round the door and announced that the ceremony was starting in five minutes. Looking down at his daughter, he offered his arm to which Rose smiled and looped her own around his and the two of them left the room and headed downstairs.

The ceremony was a short one, taking place in the grounds of Pemberley at the start of summer. The guests were sat in chairs on the freshly cut grass, on either side of the red carpet that had been laid down for the bridesmaids to walk down before William led his daughter down there. At the end of the aisle, stood a white archway where Joe was stood with his best man and the registrar. The music played the wedding march as William walked Rose down the aisle, no longer feeling those feelings of loss but feelings of pride, of doing something that a dad would do.

When the music ceased, the guests returned to their seats and William handed his daughter over to Joe before sitting himself next to Elizabeth. He was surprised at how much easier it had been actually handing his daughter to the future husband, he had thought that he might not be able to do it.

The registrar cleared his throat.

"Family, friends, we are here today to witness the union of marriage between Joseph Edgar Younge and Rose Olivia Darcy…"

As the registrar continued to speak, William smiled happily as he watched his daughter speak her wedding vows; knowing that, just like her mother, Rose was right. He would always be her dad, no matter what happened.

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 **A/N:** One shot,


End file.
